


Author 




Title 



Class 
Book 



Imprint 



16— 27179-J 



:;.lEi^>^' 









BEOWN UNIVERSITY 



UNDER THE 



Presidency oe Asa Messee, S.T.D., LL.D. 



BY AN ALUMNUS. 



BOSTON : 
PUBLISHED BY CROSBY & AINSWOETH, 

117 WASHINGTON STREET. 

1867. 



SOURCE UNKNOWN 



DEC 5 1944 



Press of Geo. C. Rand & Avery, 3 Cornhill. 



LD(o32 

3n 



BROWN UNIVERSITY 



UNDEE THE 



PRESIDENCY OF ASA MESSER, S.T.D. LL.D. 

33Y A.N- ^IjXJM:]SrXJS. 



The Commencement of Brown University in 1866 was 
marked by a public service of very uncommon interest to the 
alumni, and of no little interest to all scholars and educators. 
It had been selected as a fitting time for the assembled friends 
of the university to review with public honors the life and 
character of its late president, Francis Wayland, who within 
the year had passed from among us, and taken his place in the 
ranks of the illustrious dead. The time and place had been 
happily chosen. All the clustering associations of the day 
and the scene conspired to bring the late president to our 
thoughts. We were on the grounds where he had done his 
work and achieved his victories. Since his retirement from 
the presidency, we had been accustomed still to meet him at 
these annual gatherings. Now we missed his familiar pres- 
ence. The feeling awakened by his absence was not unlike 
that which we have experienced when returning to the home 
of our youth for the first time after the death of an honored 
father. Our minds were in that mood of saddened thought 
just fitted to listen to a recital of his history, and to retrace 
and fill up for ourselves the outlines of such a moral and in- 
tellectual picture of our departed literary chief as we might 
be satisfied henceforth to cherish in our memory, and to carry 
with us as an incentive to honorable efforts and noble deeds. 



The speaker also had been selected with the same good 
judgment. The task of delivering the commemorative ad- 
dress had been assigned to a distinguished pupil of the late 
president, one who, almost from the beginning, had been in- 
timately associated with him in all his plans and efforts to pro. 
mote the cause of learning and science, and the best interests 
of the university. To these advantages of the speaker for 
his work were united ripe scholarship, nice powers of dis- 
crimination, and an affection for his great master and friend, 
which insured for the task he had to perform all the zeal and 
fidelity that filial reverence could inspire. In a word, the 
work to be done and the man appointed to do it were very 
happily suited to each other. The subject for delineation had 
features strongly marked. The painter had seen them in all 
their varied play. As the result, we have, in the address de- 
livered on that occasion, a portrait of Dr. Wayland's intellect- 
ual, moral, and religious character, such as all can recognize 
for its truthfulness, and the friends of the university may con- 
template with equal pride and pleasure. 

Having thus given free utterance to our cordial feelings of 
respect for the great worth and efficient labors of the late 
president. Dr. Wayland, no one can, with any show of justice, 
accuse us of wishing to pluck a single leaf from the chaplet of 
his well-earned fame. As little can any one accuse us of wish- 
ing to underrate the ability and artistic skill with which the 
filial piety of the pupil has striven to delineate the virtues, 
and embalm the memory, of his venerated master. We heart- 
ily rejoice in all the excellences of both, and proudly hold 
them as part of the accumulating treasures of our Alma 
Mater. But there are parts of the address from which we en- 
tirely dissent, and which excite our regret. These refer to 
the condition and administration of the college in the earlier 
periods of its existence, and especially in that of Dr. Way- 
land's immediate predecessor. 

It has long been the fashion to speak of Brown University 
as though it had never risen much above the rank of a com- 
mon academy until it came into the hands of President Way- 
land. This has been most industriously and persistently said 



and sung. For more than a score of years, it was the staple 
of our literary entertainment at commencement dinners ; and 
was served up to us, ac? nauseam, in every variety of style and 
cookery, by those who never failed on these occasions to set 
forth in prose and verse the marvellous virtues and achieve- 
ments of the new system. We were gravely assured, that, 
before the introduction of this new system, the college was 
indeed but a poor affair. Its instructions had not only been 
limited in extent, but inferior in quality; its standard of 
scholarship had been low ; and its discipline had been ineffi- 
ciently administered: altogether, it had been a poor, sickly 
thing, and was nigh unto death. 

Against all this we earnestly protest. It is entirely unfair, 
and in great part untrue. Of course, we do not mean to deny 
that great advances have been made in all these particulars ; 
but we do mean to say, that, in comparison with other col- 
leges of our country in those earlier times, Brown University 
had an honorable history, and had done good service in the 
cause of education, long before the presidency of Dr. Way- 
land. This we affirm ; and, moreover, that it is the duty, and 
concerns the honor, of the institution, to maintain its just 
claims in this respect, and to guard the memory, and preserve 
a proper estimate of the worth and service, of those venerable 
men, who, in her day of small things, directed her affairs and 
helped to lay her foundation-stones. But, besides what is due 
to the university, there is in this matter a claim of personal 
justice which must not be overlooked. If, as we affirm, it is 
honorable and praiseworthy in the pupils of the late Dr. Way- 
land to cherish his memory with the jealous care of fihal affec- 
tion, then it can be no less creditable in those of his predeces- 
sor to be equally solicitous in claiming for him the measure 
of honor and fame which his great abilities, and long and faith- 
ful services in the college, do most justly demand. Nor is 
there here the least occasion for jealous rivalry. The full 
measure of merit conceded to the one detracts nothing from 
the just claims of the other. Both did good service in their 
day. President Messer had less means to work with, and 
ruder materials to build into his structure ; but, with such as 



he had, he builded well and skilfully. President Wayland fol- 
lowed, when the couutiy had grown richer, and a higher stand- 
ard of education was demanded and had become possible. 
The means at his command were more abundant, and the 
materials better prepared. He could, therefore, build on a 
larger scale; and the separate parts of his work might justly be 
expected to come from his hands with a finer finish. A me- 
chanic who has a whole chest of tools may justly be expected 
do more and better work than another who has only a jack- 
knife to work with. But this decides little in respect to the 
ability or fidelity of the men. Had their places been mutually 
interchanged, each, perhaps, might have done the other's work 
with equally good results. Justice rigidly demands that the 
ability of a workman should be measured as much by the con- 
ditions under which he works as by the results which he 
effects ; and perhaps it would be difficult to find a case in 
w^hich the application of this rule is more obviously indispen- 
sable to all the ends of justice than in that which arises from 
a comparison of the respective merits of Dr. Messer and Dr. 
Wayland in their official capacity as Presidents of Brown 
University. 

When President Wayland took into his hands the reins of 
authority in Brown University, he at once proceeded to intro- 
duce many and very important changes in the course of 
studies and in the government and discipline of the college. 
These changes taken collectively were called the New System. 
Whether they were all wise or not, it is no part of our purpose 
now to inquire. They had been fixed on by Dr. Wayland as 
the plan upon which he intended to administer the affairs of 
the college ; and it only remained for all who desired its pros- 
perity, and meant to act a generous and manly part towards 
the new president, to give him their confidence in advance, 
and heartily to sustain him in carrying into effect the methods 
of instruction and discipline which he deemed essential to the 
success of the institution over which he had been called to 
preside. Accordingly, the friends of the college and of educa- 
tion, very generally felt it to be their duty, in hopeful anticipa- 
tion, to speak favorably of the new system^ without knowing 



or pretending to know much of its intrinsic merits or demerits; 
and even such as entertained grave doubts of the wisdom of 
the plan felt that a fair experiment would be the only satisfac- 
tory test of the question. This was no more than a generous 
confidence, which the incoming president had a right to ex- 
pect. But its first effect on the preceding administration of 
the college was both unfavorable and unjust. The new sys- 
tem was at once brought into strong contrast with the old one ; 
and whatever was said in hopeful approval of the former, and 
with the view of giving it a fair trial, was very generally ac- 
cepted as carrying with it a necessary censure and condemna- 
tion of the latter. As often happens in such cases, men did 
not reflect that each system had its excellences and its faults, 
that in some respects each was better than the other; and 
above all they did not comprehend the real and decisive point 
of comparison between them, which was their respective adap- 
tation to the educational needs and capabilities of the country, 
and the successful working of the college, at the time when 
each was proposed and put into operation. This was the 
proper point of comparison to be taken between the two sys- 
tems ; and in this view each had its substantial merits. Each 
for its time was better than the other ; and yet it is now con- 
fessed, even by the most zealous advocates of Dr. Wayland's 
new measures, that, on trial, they were found in several particu- 
lars not to work well ; and therefore little by little fell into 
disuse and final rejection, and have, in some instances, been fol- 
lowed by a return to the old system. 

In respect to the results and importance of the services 
rendered to the college, and to the interests of popular edu- 
cation, by the truly eminent men, Asa Messer and Francis 
Wayland, we think the time has now come when there should 
be a thoughtful and dispassionate review of the whole ques- 
tion ; and, although we have neither the leisure nor the means 
at command to deal with the subject as it deserves, yet, in 
order to do such justice as we may to the name and memory 
of the late President Messer, we propose to invite attention 
very briefly to some of the differences in the condition and 
educational wants and possibilities of our country at the time 



when he was placed in the presidency of Rhode-Island Col- 
lege and at the later period of its history when Dr. Wayland 
was called to preside over the same college, already risen to 
the higher and more honorable rank and title of Brown Uni- 
versity. 

When Rhode-Island College was founded, the country was 
still in its infancy. Less than one hundred and fifty years 
had elapsed since that little band of wanderers first set their 
feet on the rock at Plymouth. That century and a half had 
passed in exhausting wars with the Indians, and incessant 
struggles for the bare necessities of living. Shelter was to 
be sought from the storms and frosts of a rigorous climate. 
Food was to be gained by the sweat of the face out of a soil 
not overfruitful, rough, and hard of culture, and for the largest 
part overgrown with bushes, briers, and trees, which had to 
be cleared away by the hand of patient industry. Farms and 
fields were to be enclosed with fence ; roads were to be made ; 
and all the nameless wants incident to a new settlement in a 
new country, cut off from all civilization by the broad Atlantic, 
were pressing sorely and heavily on the people. These de- 
mands left them little time, and less means, for books and schools 
and colleges. Of the vast importance of these things, our fore- 
fathers were far from being ignorant or regardless. With a 
foresight and self-sacrifice seldom equalled, and never sur- 
passed, they lost no time, and spared no pains, to do what they 
could for the cause of sound learning. Of necessity, however, 
their efforts in this behalf were chiefly directed to the mere 
rudiments of education. To read, ivrite, and cipher was the 
curriculum of school learning, which bounded the ambition of 
most parents and most children. After a while, and much 
sooner than could have been expected, schools with a wider 
range of instruction, and even colleges, began to be estab- 
lished. But in a new country, where there were few books, 
and still fewer men qualified to teach, and where all the struc- 
tures and preparations needful for schools and colleges had 
to be begun, made, and built up from the foundation, it could 
not be otherwise than that these institutions must move for- 
ward very slowly. 



Under such circumstances, and in such feeble beginnings, 
Rhode-Island College had its origin. But scarcely had the 
institution got into working order, when its onward move- 
ments were seriously checked b}^ the sudden breaking-out of 
the Revolutionary War, — that terrible struggle in which the 
nation came to its birth. After the strife was ended, the 
college again resumed its regular operations. But the war 
had left the people even poorer than it tfound them. Money 
was scarce ; taxes were heavy. Only the very first rudi- 
ments of education could be had ; and even from these many 
were excluded. Few parents could afford the expense of 
giving their sons a thorough preparation for college; and 
there were few schools where such a preparation could be 
obtained. Moreover, nearly all the sons of the richer class, 
either from the choice of their parents, or from the influence 
of the schools where their course of preparatory studies had 
to be conducted, were found to repair to Harvard or Yale, 
'older and better-endowed seats of learning. It was clear, there- 
fore, that, if Rhode-Island College was to have any students, 
it must draw them mostly from the less wealthy famihes, — 
such as the small traders, mechanics, and farmers. Students 
from this social position might have their full share of native 
ability and literary ambition ; but a college for them must, of 
necessity, put its terms of entrance, its course of studies, and 
its rate of charges, on a lower and less expensive scale. To 
the wants and possibilities of such students, Rhode-Island 
College was accordingly adapted. The system was wisely 
conceived, both to promote the growth of the college, and to 
supply the then educational needs of the whole country. Dif- 
fusion of elementary knowledge, rather than completeness of 
scholarship, was at that time demanded. Society was loudly 
calling for men of education sufficient to enable them to enter 
upon the duties of the learned professions. On the farms and 
in the workshops of New England were scores of young men 
endowed with the requisite abilities, willing to study, and 
ambitious to fill these places of honor and emolument. All 
they wanted was the needful training. This Rhode-Island 



10 

College promised to do for them, and on terms within their 
reach. Such was the college in its first design. 

In 1791, its first president, Dr. Manning, died. He was 
succeeded by the youthful Maxcy, a man of scholarly attain- 
ments, brilliant eloquence, and fascinating manners. To fol- 
low in the steps of such a man was no easy task. To this 
task Dr. ]\Iesser was called in 1802, after he had served the 
college with great jpredit for the period of eleven years, in 
the several ofiices of tutor, professor of languages, and 
professor of mathematics and natural philosophy. Though 
the people were now slowly recovering from the exhausting 
effects of the War of Independence, still they were very poor. 
Nearly all they had, or could earn, was necessarily absorbed 
in provisions for bare material comfort. The schools, even in 
New England, were still mostly confined to the simplest ele- 
ments of instruction ; and even of these schools the number 
was quite inadequate to the wants of the people. Of course, 
the same reasons which originally placed Rhode-Island Col-" 
lege on the basis that we have already described, still forced 
the new president to adopt and continue the same general 
principles of administration. He had no choice. The col- 
lege must have students, and it was obliged to take such as 
the country was able to send. The country must have edu- 
cated men for the learned professions and other social needs, 
and it was obliged to accept such as the college could in the 
given circumstances furnish. These mutual necessities and 
dependencies of college and country continued on, with very 
little change, through nearly the whole period of Dr. Messer's 
presidency, — certainly till within a very few years of its 
close ; for it must be remembered that in 1805, only three 
years after he had been invested with the government and 
responsibility of the college, our political relations with 
Great Britain began to wear a troubled and threatening 
aspect. This put a sudden stop to the incipient prosperity of 
the country, and especially in the New-England States, 
endangering, diminishing, and finally destroying their foreign 
commerce, then tlieir priticipal source of business and profit. 
Meantime our disputes with England became more and 



11 

more violent and angiy, till they brought us into a second 
war with that great and powerful nation. This diminished 
still farther the abih'ty of fathers to send their sons to col- 
lege, and, on the other hand, drew many young men into the 
army ; for young blood is quickly fired by the calls of patri- 
otism and the stirring sounds of martial music. From tlie 
losses, changes in business, taxes, and other disastrous effects 
of this war, the nation had but just recovered, and was fairly 
beginning to improve its system of education, and to place its 
common schools and academies and colleges on a higher 
platform, when in 1826 Dr. Messer tendered to the corpora- 
tion his resignation of the presidency of Brown University. 
During this whole period of twenty-four years, — as this 
recital of facts clearly shows, — there was no time when any 
material changes in the administration could have been intro- 
duced with safety to the college and benefit to the country. 
Certainly to have raised the requirements for admission, to 
have enlarged the course of undergraduate studies, and to 
have correspondingly increased the annual charges, — which 
must have been a necessarj'- consequence of such changes, 
— would have been to close the doors of the college against 
more than half the young men, who, as things then were, 
found admittance within its walls, and there pursued their 
studies with credit to the institution; and who have since 
reflected honor upon their Alma Mater by the distinguished 
services they have rendered, and the responsible offices they 
have filled in Church and State. To have shut out from the 
institution these men, at this time, would have been an ir- 
reparable loss to the college and the country. Neither could 
have afforded it. Yet that such loss must have followed upon 
any considerable changes in the administration of the college 
in Dr. Messer's day, we think has been clearly shown. If any 
thing were wanting to the proof, it is abundantly supplied in 
the fact, that in 1827, wheji these and other changes were 
introduced by Dr. Wayland, he found no little trouble in car- 
rying them into effect. Fewer students entered the college. 
Many left their classes. For several years, the classes became 
smaller and smaller ; nor, during the whole twenty-nine 



12 

years of Dr. Wayland's presidency, did the number of annual 
graduates ever again rise as high as it had been under Dr. 
Messer. This, beyond question, proves, that, even then, the 
country was hardly prepared for the changes introduced. 
Had they been attempted at an earlier date, the result must 
have been utterly disastrous. 

We now turn back and take a brief review of the policy and 
results of Dr. Messer's administration. His policy was that of 
demand and supply. He oftered the country such a college 
education as it could pay for ; and such, too, as the necessities 
of its condition then compelled it gladly to accept. Here we 
have the rule by which he fixed the requirements for matricu- 
lation, and the whole subsequent course of undergraduate 
studies. Here, too, we see the reason for that system of rigid 
economy, which under his management pervaded every de- 
partment of the institution. It was to bring the benefits of 
college life and instruction within the reach of as many as pos- 
sible ; and we may add, in passing, that this was then in full 
harmony with the spirit of the times. President Messer did 
all he could to invite and encourage young men of literary as- 
pirations. For all such he had the tenderness of a father. 
Hence the plan of college commons. Hence, too, the dispo- 
sition of the vacations, assigning the long one to the winter, 
that the students might help out their scanty means by teach- 
ing the common schools of the country, then taught almost only 
in that season of the year. By this many a poor young man 
was not a little assisted in his praiseworthy struggles to edu- 
cate himself; while at the same time it was a very great ben- 
efit to the cause of popular education in all the country towns ; 
for hereby they were able to get a better class of school-mas- 
ters than they could have otherwise obtained. 

It is not easy for us now to feel the full force of the reasons 
which led to this policy, nor to picture to our minds the full 
extent and magnitude of the happy results that then followed 
it. Under its benign influence, hundreds of young men who 
had otherwise been doomed to a life of comparative ignorance 
and inefficiency were able to lay the foundation of intellectual 
culture and future usefulness ; and the whole country, not less 



13 

than themselves, shared in the wide-spread and lasting bene- 
fits. It is not too much to say that more than half the graduates 
were then of this class. Some worked their way through by 
their own indomitable and persevering efforts ; others were 
assisted by the labors and self-denying sacrifices of parents. 
Brothers proudly and generously gave their hard earnings for 
the brother at college, and for the honor of the family. Noble- 
hearted sisters too, at home, toiled early and late, limiting their 
wardrobe and abridging their amusements, to help a favorite 
brother through college. Nor were these sons and brothers, on 
their part, wanting in courage and self-denial. Not a few of 
them entered college after only six or eight months given to 
the study of Greek and Latin. Others had no preparation but 
such as they had made alone by themselves in hours snatched 
from the daily toil of the farm and the workshop. Others 
still, while preparing for college, spent their days in teaching, 
and gave their nights to study. Once admitted into college, 
they were all ready cheerfully to practice the most rigid econ- 
omy. They studied hard. They lived plainly. They taught 
school in the long vacation. When necessity compelled, they 
sometimes left their class ; and, when they had obtained the 
means, they returned again to college to finish the course and 
take their degree. The rich and happy fruits of all this are 
to be seen in the subsequent history of these men. The last 
half-century will show them to you in every part of the land. 
In the churches, the colleges, the schools, the halls of legis- 
lation, the courts of justice, in the practice of the healing art, 
and in all the departments of social industry where science and 
skill are to be put in requisition, they have done and are still 
doing a noble work. All through our newly-settled States and 
Territories they have been seen marching in the van of civili- 
zation, holding up the torch of science and religion, and doing 
their full share in supplying and working the intellectual, 
moral, and Christian forces, which alone can give health, 
strength, progress, and stability to the nation. Such results 
are a proud testimony to the wisdom and ability of Asa Messer 
as a college president and an educator of young men. In them, 
he has raised for himself a monument more honorable and 



14 

more enduring than columns of marble or tablets of brass. 
In the heart of many a noble man still lives, and, while his 
life lasts, will live, the grateful memory of what he owes to 
the kind and encouraging words, the wise counsels, and the 
warm and genial friendship, of the third president of Brown 
University. 

In the foregoing remarks, we have had occasion so often to 
contrast the condition and educational needs and capabilities 
of our country during Dr. Messer's presidency with the same 
during Dr. Waylaad's, that little more will now have to be 
said on tliat point. Just previous to 1827, the country had 
been enjoying some years of continued prosperity. In that 
time many persons had become rich ; and the people seemed 
to be all at once waking up to the consciousness of their 
growing wealth. The simple manners and rigid economy of 
former years began to be thrown aside. Expensive tastes 
and habits were rapidly forming. Men were no longer satis- 
fied with living as their fathers had. The whole platform of 
domestic and social life was rising to a higher level. The 
system of popular education too had felt the movement. 
Schools and schools-houses were improved and multiplied. A 
wider circle of studies was introduced. Teachers were better 
paid. Meantime a higher grade of schools had, grown up, ex- 
pressly designed to prepare young men for college. To 
these schools the richer families, now become numerous in 
the community, very generally sent their sons. Here they 
passed through a more thorough and extended course of pre- 
paratory training. This general uplifting of the whole basis 
of popular instruction now began to demand a corresponding 
elevation and enlargement of the course of studies in the 
colleges. Besides this, it now began to be felt that our col- 
leges required to be placed under a severer system of dis- 
cipline and moral restraint. This arose from an already great 
and still increasing change in the age and character of the 
students. Until recently, most of those who had entered t)ur 
colleges were young men. They came of their own choice, 
and had worked hard to get there. They had no time and no 
money to waste in idleness and folly. They came with an 



15 

earnest purpose to prepare themselves for the places of honor 
and responsibility which they had in view, and hoped some 
day to occupy. Such young men needed little stimulus and 
less restraint. But now hoys were sent to college. Many of 
them had no definite object in view. They did not look to 
their .education as the means of future support, or usefulness, 
or distinction in life. They had thus far been provided for, 
and they left the future to take care of itself They had 
plenty of money to spend ; and the warm blood and heedless 
impulses of youth disposed them to think more of pleasure 
than knowledge, of amusement than study. Of necessity, this 
state of things called for a stronger and more vigilant college 
government. 

At this time, 1827, Dr. Wayland succeeded to the presi- 
dency of Brown University. He accepted the popular de- 
mand for severer discipline and higher scholarship, and at 
once prepared to supply it. Every thing favored the attempt. 
Not only had the richer and "generally improved condition of 
the people prepared the way, but the merchant princes and 
manufacturers of the land had now begun, more liberally than 
ever before, to turn the streams of their accumulated wealth 
and increasing profits to the aid and endowment of colleges 
and all the higher institutions of learning and science. The 
attempt would require money, and there was reason to expect 
it. The Congregationalists in Massachusetts had recently 
erected and were liberally supporting a uqw college at Am- 
herst. Why should not the Baptists rally in a generous and 
united support oi their college in Rhode Island? Dr. Wayland 
believed they would. With these encouragements, and see- 
ing too that some other colleges had already begun to do the 
same thing, he set himself to the arduous task of introducing 
into Brown University a severer discipline, a wider range of 
studies, and a higher standard of scholarship. Public senti- 
ment was with him. He was ably supported and cheered on 
in his work by the counsel and money of ardent and liberal 
friends. The old patrons of tlie college seemed to vie with 
great numbers of new ones in generous gifts to increase the 
library and erect a suitable building for it, to endow professor- 



16 

ships and scholarships, and to procure apparatus and con- 
struct buildings for the experimental sciences. The faciUties 
for a liberal education in Brown University were thus greatly 
increased and multiplied. We accept them as highly valuable 
improvements in the condition of our Alma Mater. We also 
concede to the indomitable will, the energetic perseverance, 
and the great abilities of Dr. Wayland, a large share in the 
merit of effecting them ; and, on every occasion which sug- 
gests his name, grateful emotions never fail to spring up in our 
hearts for what he did in this behalf. Here we rest this point. 
Whether, under the same circumstances and with the same 
generous assistance, Dr. Messer wovild have done as much for 
the college, we have no special occasion to express an opinion, 
though we see no reason to doubt that he would ; but we do 
repeat our confident belief of wliat we have before said, that 
at no time much earlier than this could these improvements 
have been made by Dr. Wayland, or by any other man. To 
have raised the terms of admission, and enlarged the circle of 
studies, and thus, by necessary consequence, to have nearly 
or quite doubled the expenses, would in Dr. Messer's day have 
been an impossibility. It would have simply shut up the col- 
lege. The country was not then ready for such changes. 
Looking now at the present state of tlie university, and re- 
garding it as in no small degree the result of improvements 
begun by Dr. Wayland, we are ready to concede (and we re- 
joice that it is so) that the course of undergraduate studies is 
now more liberal, and the instructions of a riper quality, than 
they were in our day. We also most cheerfully concede that, 
with these better helps and this wider field of culture, many 
of the students now leave college with greater attainments and 
a more finished scholarship than could be found when we were 
in those classic halls ; but we do not believe, that, taken class 
by class, more study is now done, or more actual acquire- 
ments are now made, in the four years of the undergraduate 
course, than we ourselves witnessed in the less favored times 
of our worthy and venerable president, Dr. Messer. 

In representing. Dr. Messer's administration as having been 
systematically planned, and conducted by him with a cherished 



17 

design to favor and encourage the education of the sons of the 
less opulent families in the country, it is far from our inten- 
tion to admit, or even to leave room for, the inference, that the 
education there received was for that reason less valuable in 
itself, or less useful for all the practical purposes of life, than 
that which was then to be obtained at greater cost at Harvard 
or Yale ; and much less do we mean to say that motives of 
economy were the only ones which then attracted young men 
to the halls of Brown University : but we do mean to say 
that the economical arrangements devised and persisted in 
by President Messer made it possible for young men of limited 
means to obtain the benefits of college life and instruction, 
and that he deliberately intended this as the result of his sys- 
tem. To this we appeal as one of the proofs of the soundness 
of his judgment and the benevolence of his heart. We 
proudly record it among the purest, and not least enduring, 
of the honors that cluster around his memory. We moreover 
affirm that these economical arrangements did attract to the 
college during his presidency large numbers of students (full 
one-half of each class) ; that, without these young men, the 
college would not have been respectable in numbers, and 
would have been sustained only with very great difficulty ; 
and that, in their several classes, these students won for them- 
selves their full proportion of college honors, and as men and 
citizens did afterwards reflect their full proportion of honor 
upon their Alma Mater. For proof we appeal to the Triennial 
Catalogue. Let any man there examine the several classes 
from 1802 to 1826, and learn the antecedents of the students, 
and then follow out the history of their subsequent lives and 
deeds, and he will be obliged to confess that our statement is 
far within the truth. As we have already said, for young men 
struggling to obtain a college education, and working in the 
chains of the res angustce donii, Dr. Messer had a heart of 
fatherly tenderness. Wherever he saw eager aspirations after 
knowledge, a high sense of duty, and a resolute determination 
to prepare for an honorable and useful discharge of the respon- 
sibilities of life, there he was ever ready with the words of 
encouragement and the hand of help. As president of a col- 



18 

lege, he offered to this class of young men not a foorer but a 
cheaper education. A skilful manufacturer strives to bring 
his fabrics into market, nut by reducing their quality but by 
cheapening their production. Precisely so Dr. Messer ex- 
erted his great abilities to cheapen the cost of education. 
This he effected by many wise arrangements, but chiefly by 
imposing upon himself, and requiring of his associates in the 
faculty of instruction, a very uncommon burden of duty. 
During most of his administration, in addition to the duties of 
president, he performed those of professor of mathematics, and 
also those of professor of natural philosophy. By these extra 
labors, he was able to afford an education equal to that obtained 
at other colleges, but at less cost. In this he rendered an in- 
valuable service to his college, to his country, and especially 
to those young men who thus found the means of a liberal 
education brought within their reach. 

But other motives besides those of economy attracted stu- 
dents to the college while it was under the presidency of Dr. 
Messer. A popular opinion was then widely prevailing, that, 
for most of the practical purposes of life, an education at Brown 
was better than one at Harvard. This was thought to be par- 
ticularly appHcable to the department of English studies, to 
composition and oratory. There can be no doubt that the 
young men trained up under Dr. Messer were distinguished 
for habits of manly thought and selfreliant investigation tem- 
pered with conservative good sense ; and there can be as little 
doubt, that, for these high qualities, they were greatly indebted 
to the liberal sentiments, and the wide-reaching, independent, 
and yet well-balanced mind, of the President. 

Still another cause at that time contributed very consid- 
erably to enhance the practical value of an education at 
Brown University. There were then in the college two lite- 
rary societies, composed of undergraduates. These had large 
and valuable libraries. These volumes were very generally 
read by the students. But the principal value of these 
societies was found in their frequent stated meetings for 
practice in debate, and for reading, and criticising comjjosi- 
tlons. Emulation was thus excited in the useful arts of 



19 

writing and speaking. The students thus accustomed them- 
selves to think upon the great questions of the day, and 
acquired the ^ower of using their knowledge so as most 
effectually to convince and persuade others. From these 
debates they went forth to instruct society, and to sway pop- 
ular assemblies by their eloquence. Facts show that those 
who were then most active in these societies as writers and 
debaters have since done most for themselves and for the 
world. Here they trained their youthful faculties, and ac- 
quired the skill which has since made their power felt. 
From these societies, they looked out upon the theatre before 
them ; and prepared for the battles to be fought, and the work 
to be done, in the great world of living men where they were 
expecting to act their part. By these exercises, the gradu- 
ates of Brown University were prepared when they went 
forth into the world, very soon to acquire an enviable dis- 
tinction as popular speakers, ready debaters, men of good 
sense, and actual power in the conduct of affairs. Hence the 
opinion then widely prevalent, that, for all practical purposes 
an education in Brown University was even more desirable 
than one in most of the other colleges. This result was in 
no small degree due to the president, who always looked 
upon these societies as important auxiliaries in his work, and 
warmly cherished them by his counsels and his encourage- 
ment. We are sorry that they are now so far abandoned. 
One of the best methods of practical training is here lost to 
the students. We do not believe that any equivalent has 
been found in the secret societies that have taken their place. 
Beyond all question, it is a disgrace to the students, if not to 
some higher powers, that those libraries are left, as they now 
are, to be scattered, wasted, and utterly destroyed. 

Here perhaps we might lay aside our pen, and consider our 
task as done. But such persistent efforts have been made, 
in almost every conceivable wa,y, by commencement-dinner 
speeches, by newspaper paragraphs, by sermons and eulogies, 
to magnify the marvellous efficacy of the new system, and to 
sound far and wide the transcendent merits of Dr. Wayland as 
an educator of young men, that we feel compelled to sul^'ect 



20 

the successive administrations of President Messer and Presi- 
dent Wayland to one or* two more tests in order to discover 
and bring- into fair comparison the actual results of each ; and 
it can hardly be necessary for us to say that we do this with 
sincere respect and admiration for both these distinguished 
men. 

The first test which we propose to apply shall be drawn 
from the graduates. Dr. Messer's administration covered 
twenty-four years. The whole number of graduates was six 
hundred and ninety-three, giving an annual average of twenty- 
nine. Dr. Wayland's administration embraced twenty-nine 
years. The whole number of graduates was eight hundred 
and thirteen, giving an annual average of twenty-eight. Now, 
when we consider the greater population, and the greater 
wealth of the country, during Dr. Wayland's presidency, we 
submit that this result is even more creditable to his prede- 
cessor than to himself 

We pass now from the number to the character of the gradu- 
ates. That a higher grade of scholarship was fixed, and per- 
haps pretty generally attained, under Dr. Wayland, we frankly 
concede ; but, as we have already shown, this is attributable 
to the greater advantages which were put into his hands : and, 
moreover, it must be borne in mind that mere scholarship is 
not the only nor the most decisive test of the value of educa- 
tion. A pure and elevated ideal of usefulness in life, a fixed- 
ness of purpose which yields to no difficulties, a spirit of 
thorough investigation, mental discipline, selfdenial, these 
are elements of character, which rise in value far above any 
particular attainments in scholarship. In imparting to his 
pupils these high qualities of character, Dr. Messer was emi- 
nently successful, and in no degree inferior to his successor. 
To illustrate this we have need of a third term for compari- 
son, and we employ for this purpose the graduates of other 
colleges. Using this, then, as our term of measure, we say 
that the graduates under Dr. Messer compare as favorably 
with those of otlior New-England colleges at that time as do 
the graduates under Dr. Wayland with those of the same col- 
leges in his time. The public history of these diflerent gradu- 



21 

ates proves this beyond a doubt. The graduates of Brown 
University have always, in all the high qualities of the man 
and the citizen, proved themselves fully equal to the contem- 
porary graduates of other colleges in our country ; but we 
have yet to learn that in this respect, or in any other respect, 
the graduates under Dr. Wayland have exhibited any superior- 
ity over those who took their guiding inspirations from the 
lessons of Dr. Messer. Of the latter, a larger propoi'tion en- 
tered the learned professions. But this, probably, may be at- 
tributed to the stronger inducements recently held out in the 
avenues of business and trade, and 'which have, therefore, 
drawn a larger proportion of the later graduates into these 
lucrative employments. Tried, therefore, by the number or 
character of its graduates, we do not perceive that Dr. Way- 
land's administration has any advantage in its results over 
that of Dr. Messer. 

"VVe now propose to apply another test, drawn from a com- 
parison of the condition of the college at the beginning and 
end of Dr. Messer's presidency, with its condition at the be- 
ginning and end of Dr. Wayland's. This will show the 
growth and progress of the institution during the two periods 
in question, and open a fair ground of comparison between 
them in this respect. 

From the Triennial Catalogue of 1866, it appears that in 
1802, when Dr. Messer entered upon the presidency, there 
was no professor in the whole undergraduate course, and 
only one in the faculty. There were also three tutors. 
When he retired, there were nine professors in all, and two 
tutors ; and, of these professors, four were actually engaged 
in giving instruction to the undergraduates, and a fifth had 
for a year been abroad, gathering materials and making acqui- 
sitions for the more successful discharge of the duties of his 
professorship. During Dr. Messer's administration, three 
new professorships were established, — one of moral philoso- 
phy and metaphysics, one of oratory and polite literature, 
and one of chemistry ; and, at the time of his resignation 
these important departments of college instruction were filled, 
and their duties regularly discharged,' by men eminently dis- 



22 

tinguisbed in their several professions. The qualifications 
for admission, and the undergraduate course of studies, had, 
in the mean time, been gradually and very considerably ele- 
vated and enlarged ; and near the close of Dr. Messer's presi- 
dency, by tbe munificence of the late Nicholas Brown, a new, 
large, and substantial brick edifice was erected for the accom- 
modation of students. 

President Wayland, of course, found the university as bis 
predecessor left it. Under his administration, as we have 
already said, the course of undergraduate studies was still 
further improved. Two large buildings were erected, one 
for a chapel and library, and one for the experimental sci- 
ences ; and the library and philosophical apparatus were 
greatly enlarged. When he retired, he left seven professors, 
all actively engaged in their respective departments ; but the 
ofiice of tutor had been abolished. 

Now, when we take into consideration the condition of the 
country and the state of' education during these two adminis- 
trations, and when we further consider, that, under Dr. Messer, 
the college was left almost, if not entirely, to defray its cur- 
rent expenses by the charges on the students, while under 
Dr. Wayland large sums were annually given to make up for 
deficiencies in this respect, we feel a confident assurance in 
saying that the result of this comparison is, to say the least, 
quite as much to the honor of Dr. Messer as to that of Dr. 
Wayland. 

A most remarkable man was President Messer. In body 
and mind, God bad formed him on a scale of large proportions. 
His manly form and benevolent face are now standing full in 
the writer's eye. The strong grasp of his hand, the frank and 
cheerful Avelcome of his hearty laugh, the unaifected goodness 
and tenderness of his nature, can never be forgotten. No man 
ever had a higher appreciation of excellence, or a stronger 
feeling of scorn and hatred for every act of meanness and in- 
justice. No president ever cherished a livelier interest in 
the welfare of his students, or dealt more wisely and kindly 
with the erring, as long as there was any room to hope for 
their improvement. His approving smile was a cordial to the 



23 

good. His reproof was terrible, and came out with an hon- 
est and hearty indignation, which it seemed impossible for him 
to suppress. But, through the dark clouds of his severest dis- 
pleasure, the sunshine of his tenderness and paternal good- 
ness never failed to appear ; aod few ever felt the blow with- 
out acknowledging both its justice and the fatherly kindness 
from whence it came. But we cannot undertake to draw the 
portrait of such a man. We leave the work to be .done by 
some one who has a power of analysis and of graphic delin- 
eation more equal to the attempt. 

We have now finished the task which we undertook. We 
know it is very imperfectly done. It neither does justice to 
the heart of the writer nor to the worth and character of his 
early friend ; but, such as it is, we humbly offer it as the. sin- 
cere tribute of a grateful pupil to the memory of his loved and 
honored president. It has been a satisfaction to withdraw 
for a few hours from the urgent demands of professional duty, 
and to indulge these pleasant reminiscences, retracing in our 
mind the noble qualities of the instructor of our youth, and 
renewing our confession that to him we owe more than it 
would be in our power to express. Imperfectlj^, however, as 
our work has been done, we believe that no one can read 
what w^e have written without a feeling of admiration for the 
signal wisdom with which Dr. Messer conducted the affairs of 
the college ; and that all fair and honorable men will heartily 
agree with us when we say. that, as President of Brown Uni- 
versity, the name of Asa Messer well deserves to stand side 
by side, and to share in equal honor, with the names of James 
Manning and Jonathan Maxcy and Francis Wayland. 



IT'S, r '«'*'«-i\f« ^ * 



